Chapter 7
Eight teams went out into the four territories, crossing a magical barrier that encased them in their field. Two of the territories were mountains, one a forest, and the last the dark waterway, with snow along one bank and what looked like a steam field on the other. Depending on the race rules around the water, Asher and I would do very well in that area. But we didn’t get to choose.
It was all set out for us.
Team twelve wasn’t called in the first set of eight and that meant I was going to have a chance to watch them all in action. Learn the way I did best: observation.
At first the teams stood in the cleared zone in the center of their territories, one member from each team holding their artefacts. A magic user stood between them, dressed in bright yellow, making it very clear he was the officiate of this match.
“Your spells are as follows,” he said loudly, shooting some sparks into the air. In seconds, words started to form in the blue, cloudless sky.
Attack:
1. Stun (scrama)
2. Fire (firenze)
3. Confuse (amentra)
Defense:
1. Shield (shisense)
2. Camouflage (leta mina cora)
“Remember,you can use any of the spells, at any time, but with each spell you’ll be powerless for twenty seconds after. If you’re hit with a spell, it will stun or confuse you for twenty seconds. Fire will not burn your opponents, but it will send a ring of fire around them, stopping them in their tracks. It can also be used to burn through obstacles and the like.”
I sidled a little closer to Asher. “If we stick together, I could use the first spell, then you, then Jesse, and then Rone, right? And by that time I’d be free to do it again?”
Asher flashed some perfect teeth at me. “Technically yes, because in this game the rules allow vamps and shifters to utilize magic as well. But to be honest, most of the time they don’t bother with spells. It's weird for them and feels unnatural, so they stick to using their race strengths.”
Rone muttered something about not being a fucking wizard and everyone laughed.
“Scowl and look scary,” Larissa said, patting him on the chest. She was in team sixteen, and was nearby, waiting for her chance to go out. “That’s your true strength.”
He tried to glare at her, but she was too adorable to stay mad at. “Is that all I’m good for?” he asked, in mock horror, his eyes softening as he stared down at her. Those icy blue eyes didn’t soften for many people, but they were practically melted pools of azure around Larissa.
Her return smile was so sweet, and that usually meant something asshole-ish was going to come out of her mouth. “You also give a wicked backrub and are super handy at reaching those high-up shelves.”
I loved my best friend. Larissa had come so far from the shy, broken vamp I’d met in my first year, the one shunned for mourning her mother. This Larissa was fearless, and I couldn’t be prouder of her.
Before Rone could retaliate, the matches got underway. The yellow-shirted officiate lifted his hands, sending words and numbers into the sky that indicated the draw system of what team played what. Lines connected those numbers and teams, and I assumed that whenever someone won, the eliminated team would disappear from the magical scoreboard in the sky.
“I wonder if we’ll play you?” I asked Larissa.
She shrugged. “Eventually we might. It’s a round robin style competition. The losing team gets knocked out, and the winners go on to face other winners until there’s only two teams left.”
Ah, that sounded like fun.
When the matches started, I paid attention. The teams directly in front of us—team two and team six—were in the mountain area. The vampire on team two dashed up as high as he could, no doubt planning on stashing their artefact in one of the rocky crevices. Vampires moved with superspeed and he was flashing about, confusing everyone about where exactly he was heading. On the other team, their vampire tucked the artefact into his shirt, heading in the opposite direction.
“How can anyone catch a vampire?” I asked, my eyes trying to track both of them.
Jesse made a disparaging sound and I lifted my eyebrows at him. Not that he noticed, since he was making a superhuman attempt to not look directly at me. He’d only slipped up once in days, and he clearly didn’t want it to happen again.
He did speak though. “Shifters can keep up with them.”
Sure enough, in the next five minutes, the bear shifter on team two, managed to pounce on the vampire from team six, and rip his shirt open. Only to find there was no artefact hidden inside. The bear roared, and it was so animalistic that actual chills raced across my arms. In seconds he was no longer a person but an actual freaking bear. No matter how many times I felt like I was finally getting used to this world, something new would then happen to surprise me.
